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Maine lottery kills suggestive rebranding effort

Every weekday, PR Daily associate editor Alan Pearcy highlights the day’s most compelling stories and amusing marginalia on the Web in this, #TheDailySpin.

Sex may sell, but in Maine, it looks like lottery buyers require a little foreplay. According to Heavy.com, when officials issued plans to rebrand scratch-offs under the name “Kwikies,” the only thing quick was the response from the state's 1,300 ticket retailers.

WSCH 6 reports that Maine’s Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations hoped the marketing ploy would increase sales, yet customers and store clerks alike were made uncomfortable by the term’s sexual connotation. So much so, in fact, the bureau has dropped the effort. Said director Gerry Reid: “We had considered the risk. We were overly optimistic. Now we'll move on.” Spokesman David Heidrich also added: "Some thought the name was sexual in nature. That was absolutely not the intent, to be provocative in any way."

If the intent of Disney’s new branded content site was to resemble that of BuzzFeed, consider it a job well done, at least that’s what PRNewser says.

So maybe it doesn’t look exactly like myBuzzFeed. Reports Creativity, a new feature for the site sponsored by GE called the “Efficiency Machine” allows visitors to tweak content and stories to their own interests.

One of those stories for a lot of sports fans is the site’s “personality-based rooting guide” for this first week of March Madness. However, marketers should be equally as interested in these demographic traits. Reports USA Today, the NCAA basketball championship provided a number of them with low-budget opportunities to get their brand or client involved in the tournament without paying for huge ad buys or sponsorships, particularly through social media.

Meanwhile, Urban Outfitters is suffering from a crisis of hipster-ly proportion. Although their fidelity for cheap beer might have saved the Twinkie, the skinny-jeaned consumer base may have sank same-store sales for the retailer last quarter, which were flat due to an excess of customer returns, according to Business Insider.

Vulture received an unexpected return on Monday following the culmination of its “Sitcom Smackdown,” a three-week long special report that sought to determine the greatest TV comedy of the past 30 years. The final bout pit “The Simpsons” against “Cheers”—and the great people of Springfield prevailed. Afterwards, the site received a cordial email form none other than one Homer J. Simpson (by way of showrunner Al Jean). Read what he had to say here.

As for me, I’ve never been able to say enough about my good friend coffee—and it appears I’m not alone. Time alleges that there might be nothing a good brew can’t do, including set a world record for a new coffee-powered vehicle. So it seems PR pros aren’t the only ones fueled by caffeine:

The coffee habit is a nonnegotiable cost when it comes to funding your PR efforts. However, Forbes proposes seven other simple steps to better DIY public relations that could save you from breaking the bank.

And saving this story for last, The Huffington Post shares a surprise proposal that a news anchor’s boyfriend fiancé pulled off live on the air: